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Tony Awards: Bryan Cranston wins for performance in All The Way while Audra McDonald makes Broadway history

Updated
Mon 9 Jun 2014, 6:07 PM AEST

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Bryan Cranston took out the Tony for best actor in a play.

Reuters: Carlo Allegri

Actor Bryan Cranston has made an award-winning transition from the silver screen to Broadway, taking out a top acting prize at the 68th annual Tony Awards for his portrayal of US president Lyndon B Johnson.

Cranston, best known for his small screen role as a teacher-turned-drug kingpin in Breaking Bad, had been a favourite to win for his turn as Johnson in All the Way, Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Schenkkan's acclaimed play.

"When you can effect emotional change in the audience it's like a powerful drug. It's as strong as blue crystal meth," he said, referring to his Emmy-winning role in Breaking Bad.

Tony Awards 2014 winners

Best play: All The Way

Best musical: A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder

Best book of a musical: A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder

Best original score: Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County

Best revival of a play: A Raisin in the Sun

Best revival of a musical: Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Best actor in a leading role in a play: Bryan Cranston, All The Way

Best actress in a leading role in a play: Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill

Best actor in a leading role in a musical: Neil Patrick Harris, Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Best actress in a leading role in a musical: Jessie Mueller, Beautiful - The Carole King Musical

Best actor in a featured role in a play: Mark Rylance, Twelfth Night

Best actress in a featured role in a play: Sophie Okonedo, A Raisin in the Sun

Best actor in a featured role in a musical: James Monroe Iglehart, Aladdin

Best actress in a featured role in a musical: Lena Hall, Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Best director of a play: Kenny Leon, A Raisin in the Sun

Best director of a musical: Darko Tresnjak, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder

In other categories, actress Audra McDonald made Broadway history when she won her sixth Tony as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill.

McDonald, with her best actress prize in a play, became the only woman to win a Tony in all four acting categories. She also tied with the late actress Julie Harris, who had six wins, including a special lifetime achievement award.

With tears streaming down her face, a trembling McDonald acknowledged her parents, family and the women who came before her.

"I want to thank all the shoulders of the strong and brave and courageous women that I am standing on," she said. "And most of all Billie Holiday. You deserve so much more than you were given when you were on this Earth."

With four awards, including Darko Tresnjak's statuette for best director, the musical satire A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder tied with Hedwig and the Angry Inch with the most Tonys.

Meanwhile, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder took home the top musical prize and Jessie Mueller was named best actress for her starring role in Beautiful - The Carole King Musical.

Neil Patrick Harris took out the gong for lead actor in a musical for his performance as the transgender rock star in Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

"Playing Hedwig is an absolute joy. It was a role I was terrified of, in taking it on. It has changed me and challenged me," Harris said.

Lena Hall nabbed her first Tony for her supporting role in the production, which was also named best musical revival.

Jackman hosts the awards ceremony yet again

Hugh Jackman hosted the ceremony at Radio City Music Hall for the fourth time.

The show included performances by Tony nominee Idina Menzel, music legend Gladys Knight and rock star Sting, who performed a song from his upcoming Broadway debut musical The Last Ship.

British actor Mark Rylance took home his third Tony, winning for featured actor in a play as the Countess Olivia in the all-male Shakespeare Globe production of Twelfth Night.

"We would very much like to come back (to Broadway) with some more Shakespeare and we are talking about it but we haven't settled what it will be," said Rylance, who praised the late blacklisted American actor Sam Wanamaker, the force behind the recreation of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London.

A flustered and surprised Sophie Okonedo accepted the featured actress prize in her Broadway debut as Denzel Washington's wife in the revival of A Raisin in the Sun.

Lorraine Hansberry's acclaimed 1959 work also won the Tony for best revival of a play, and the best directing prize for Kenny Leon.

"That was shocking and stunning, surprising. But I thought the production was well deserving of a Tony Award," Leon said backstage.

James Monroe Iglehart, who plays the larger-than-life genie in Aladdin, jumped up and shouted to loud audience applause after winning the featured actor prize in a musical.

The Tony Awards are presented by the theatre industry association, The Broadway League, and the American Theatre Wing, a not-for-profit organisation.